Scleria scabra Willdenow (1805:315)

Schneider, Layla Jamylle Costa, Simões, André Olmos, Dias, Ana Cristina Andrade De Aguiar & Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança, 2023, Typifications in Scleria subgenus Scleria section Hymenolytrum (Cyperaceae), Phytotaxa 606 (3), pp. 170-184 : 174

Scleria scabra Willdenow (1805:315) .

Holotype:—[ VENEZUELA]. [Sucre]: Cumaná, s.d., Humboldt s.n. (B-W 17338 [17338 -01 0] photo!).

= Scleria porphyrorhiza C. Wright (1871: 155–156) .

Lectotype (designated here):— CUBA. [Prov. Pínar del Río]: “ En los pinares de la Vuelta de Abajo, cerca del Pina del Rio ”, s.d., fl. and fr., C.Wright s.n. (K [000584494]!) ( Fig. 3 ).

Scleria scabra Willd. , according to its original description ( Willdenow 1805), has leaf blades scabrous on the margins, a small panicle (ca. 2.5 cm long) with few spikelets, and fruits ovoid-trigonous, white to yellowish, with trichomes. Core (1936) synonymized Scleria porphyrorhiza into S. scabra and commented that, after analyzing the type specimens of those two names, it was not possible to detect features that would separate them. After analyzing the protologues of both names, we agree with Core (1936) and likewise recognize Scleria scabra and S. porphyrorhiza as synonyms.

Scleria porphyrorhiza was described by Charles Wright (1871) as having stems scabrous, basal sheaths reduced and upper sheaths winged, leaf-blades with scabrous margins, contraligule with membranous margins (appendices), panicle contracted and terminal, male spikelets numerous and pedicelate, and female spikelets broad, shiny, roundovate and apiculate, nutlets obscure-trigonous and puberulous, hypogynium wrinkled with three lobes, with an acute apex. Wright (1871) mentioned “En los pinares de la Vuelta de Abajo , cerca del Pina del Rio ” as the typical locality of S. porphyrorhiza and “sine numero”, but without information concerning the depositing herbarium. He made several collections in Cuba between the years 1856-1857, 1858-1864 and 1865-1867 ( Stafleu & Cowan 1988; Underwood 1905) that resulted in several volumes of the Flora Cubana, which were later compiled by Sauvalle (1873) in a book with that same title. However, despite assembling multiple collections and duplicates, this author labelled his legitimate materials only as “ Cuba ” or “ Cuba orientali”, often not mentioning collection numbers or dates ( Underwood 1905). Based on this information, six vouchers were found having characteristics matching those of the original description of S. porphyrorhiza – although most had only limited additional information, with some displaying a standardized label “Plantae Cubenses Wrightianae” (i.e. BRU [00057592], GH [00549024], K [000584494], NY [00051742, 01321878], P [00277128], US 47588 [00087122]). Despite the scarce information provided, the GH specimen (GH00549024) is possibly not part of the original material, because its label contains the detail “ Cuba orientali, 1859,1860” – which differs from the protologue, as “ Pina del Rio ” is located in the western portion of the island, which the collector visited in 1862, 1865 and 1866 ( Underwood 1905). The other materials have no notations concerning locality, and only the specimen at K (000584494) is dated “1865” (which is the closest to Wright’s stay at the collection locality) as well as the annotation “sp. nov”. Due to the imprecision of the annotations on the materials involved, and K (000584494) being interpreted as the closest material with information regarding the collection and description of S. porphyrorhiza , it is designated here as the lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Scleria porphyrorhiza C.Wright (C.Wright s.n., K [000584494]). Image: © The Board of Trustees of the RBG, Kew (United Kingdom).